beginner off road trails in socal

I have a 990 adventure but have only ridden off road once. Id like to do more off road riding and was wondering if someone could suggest some easier trails preferably in southern California? I am going to try the Azusa ohv in the next few weeks here. I have dual sport tires on at the moment so nothing too intense. Thanks

OHV areas & trails are no place for a 990 except in the hands of an off road expert. Dual Sport tires are full on street legal knobbies not deep groves in Adv bike street tires.

Just get a CTUC map (try "Friends of Jawbone" web site) for Angeles forest and rid ethe dirt roads to start perhaps a trip to Gorman OHV & Los Padres forest.

pm sent

You could do Cleghorn. It's a Jeep trail. Forest Service road

Exit the 15 north at Cleghorn and turn right.

It's at the bottom of Cajon Pass.

It just goes a few easy miles and exits on to the 134 and you can come back down that to the 15.

If you do that with ease you can then graduate to Lytle Creek. Lots of Jeep trails. Forest service roads.

Bautista Canyon Rd and Thomas Mountain Road in Riverside County are about as easy as it gets (at least when the snow melts off Thomas Mountain which is probably by now). The connecting forest service road is a bit tougher but still not too hard. Santa Rosa Mountain Rd is pretty easy as well but goes higher so may still have a bit of snow up top

Go ride S. Main Divide off Ortega Hwy. first. Next, Nate Harrison Grade to Palomar. Cleghorn is good. Some cool FS roads off 79 near Warner Springs. Silverado Canyon to Saddleback Mtn. Ready for Seqoia/Death Valley!!

ojai to carrizo plains (elkhorn grade) to pozo saloon, then hit the coast.

have fun.

We were at Pozo saloon when a Harley rider pulled in from the dirt side!

He was crying......honestly he was crying.

hahaha.



Thanks for all the feedback guys, I forgot to check this post and ended up going to Azuza OHV. Definitely not a beginner spot but I will check out some of the others.

Hey cmills,

I am a total newb (only in the dirt - been riding 2 wheels on pavement for some time) and looking to get into some dirt slowly but surely.

Don't want to be the blind leading the blind, but let me know if you want to hit any of the beginner routes suggested in the thread.

Currently riding an R1200GS

The beginner trails are usually marked with a green circle.

Tried Cleghorn rd. yesterday. It ended up being about 6 miles and wasn't too bad but I wouldn't do it again with dual sport tires, definitely need offroad tires. But a fun ride nonetheless, thanks!

Thanks, is this the route you're talking about?

https://goo.gl/maps/CBMFt

You can probably do the fireroad over Rowher Flats

The section you likely did was 2N47 - 3N22 ... basically, after about 2 miles of switchback you arrived at a false plateau with power lines and "sorta" made a left/went straight.

At that "intersection" and to the right is a trail marked 2N47 ... this is the continuation of Cleghorn; total distance from I15 to 138 is about 14.5 miles; you likely would have found the continuation more interesting due significant ruts and off camber turns ... nothing terribly difficult, it just requires a little more concentration.

Good luck.